Texas is Building a Wall to Keep Migrants Out

With Donald Trump’s presidency we were faced with an issue known simply as “The Wall.” One of Trump’s biggest goals during his presidency was to build a huge wall along the US/Mexico border. The purpose of this wall has always been to keep refugee immigrants south of the border from finding a better life in the US. It was this belief that the border will save the US that demonized Latino immigrants in the eyes of many Americans. I would like to say that this mean spirited project has come to an end…but unfortunately it has not. The psychological effects of “The Wall” will take a lot of effort to undo, and there are people in power making the situation worse from the state government level.

Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, is feeding into the resurgence of the proposed wall. He has officially announced his plans to build a wall along the Texas/Mexico border. He is also cracking down on undocumented immigrants. Sadly, the news only gets worse from here. Judge Richard Cortez of Hidalgo claims that immigrants who simply go near the border or somehow damage it could be arrested and serve up to 6 months in jail. This is incredibly counter productive because the US is already facing the issue of overcrowded jails, and the imprisonment of immigrants for such frivolous reasons would only make it worse.

When Biden took office he immediately suspended the construction of the wall and took away most of the funding for it; however, there has been an influx of immigrants coming to the US since these actions were set in place. In fact, it seems that a record number of migrants are coming to the US this year. Due to this reality, the Biden administration has been forced to deal with the issue head on.

Kamala Harris herself traveled to Guatemala in order to talk to the Guatemalan president and the Guatemalan people. During a press conference, she had the following message to Guatemalans: “I want to be clear. To folks in this region who are thinking of making that dangerous trek to the United States Mexico border – do not come. Do not come.” The same message is being sent to Mexico and its citizens as well. With the continually increasing flow of migrants coming in from all of Latin America, we will have to wait and see what the Biden administration will do.